Canfield: Quintet after Schumann for Woodwind Quartet and Piano

Product Description

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There are two versions of this composition: (1) Saxophone
Quartet and Piano [JP4055] and (2) Woodwind Quartet
(flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon) and piano [JP5132 on
this web page].

Quintette nach Schumann was commissioned by the
Oasis Saxophone Quartet in its desire to have David
DeBoor Canfield contribute another work in his series of
pieces written in the style of older composers who never
happened to write for certain instruments. The Quintet
was consequently originally composed for saxophone
quartet and piano, and was begun on February 23, 2013
and completed on April 25th of that same year. The
version listed here for woodwind quartet (flute, oboe,
clarinet and bassoon) and piano was prepared by
the composer in October and November of 2016.

In this work, the composer attempted to capture the
melodic patterns, harmonic movement, and textures of
Robert Schumann, who wrote several works for winds.
However, in this work Canfield, even more than in his
Trio after Brahms, left some of his own distinct
musical fingerprints in the work. There are a number of
places that sound more like Canfield writing in a
romantic style than they do the style of the German
master. There are also some places that sound more like
Brahms than Schumann, but the composer liked these too
much to try to rewrite them to mold them into Schumann’s
style. Sometimes a composer must let a piece take its
course.

The four movements consist of a declamatory
first movement, the longest of the quintet, and cast in
a modified sonata allegro form, the scherzo-like theme
and variations second movement, a slow and rather simple
third movement, and a driving finale with a tempo
marking that translates as “almost faster than possible.”
The latter was brought to Canfield’s mind by the tempo
marking in Schumann’s G-Minor Piano Sonata, “as fast as
possible,” followed by a mind-boggling subsequent
marking of “più mosso” (a paradox resolved by the fact
that the music becomes easier at that point). As is
typical in 19th-century chamber music, the piano is
given the lion’s share of the notes, although the
composer made an effort to give each of the four wind
players a challenging and rewarding part as well.